An Infinity Pass Eternity
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Piper regrets the kiss that she shared with Cole in Deadly Mistletoe, but it's not for the reason he thinks.  The long awaited sequel to the author's Deadly Mistletoe!  Unconventional Het.


Title: "An Infinity Pass Eternity"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: PG for language and mildly mature content  
Summary: Piper regrets the kiss that she shared with Cole in Deadly Mistletoe, but it's not for the reason he thinks.  
Warnings: Het, Unconventional Pairing  
Word Count: 2,150  
Challenge: Cathie's Ficcers Unite Charmed challenge for 6-24-10 for Piper to have secret feelings for any Demon (Of course I picked Cole. What other Demon could I ever possibly pick for Miss Piper Halliwell, or even Missus? :-) )  
Timeline: Takes place some months after the author's "Deadly Mistletoe".  
Disclaimer: Piper, Phoebe, and Prue Halliwell, Cole Turner, Leo Wyatt, and Charmed are & TM Spelling Entertainment and any other respective owners, none of which are the author, and are used without permission. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

"Mmm."

The sound of the husky male voice behind her froze Piper in mid-action. She was still bent over her stove, pulling out a tray of red velvet cupcakes, as her heart took wings, dove through her feet, and then shot up and out of the cosmos! He was back! At long last, after days of waiting and not knowing whether or not he even lived, each of which had seemed an eternity, the man she loved was back home at long last! "C-" Piper paused, wet her lips, and tried again. "Cole."

"Piper," he replied knowingly. He grinned as he snatched up a caramel chocolate chip cookie and took a bite. "What did he do this time, sweetheart?"

"Who?" she asked, clearly puzzled. She did not dare to turn to face him yet but did sit her cupcakes down.

"Leo, of course." He finished his cookie and reached for a lemon bar that was freshly sprinkled with powdered sugar. "That dratted White Lighter who doesn't know how lucky he is to have you as his wife."

She blushed and instinctively lowered her eyes, though she knew he could not see her face. "Cole . . . "

"Don't try to tell me he hasn't hurt you again, Piper. You never cook this much unless you're upset." He smiled. "Not that I don't love to devour each and every thing the world's best cook has to offer."

Her blush grew darker. "Cole," she said slowly, her voice sounding strangled. "It's not him. Yes, I'm upset, but Leo didn't do it this time." She swallowed hard and lowered her head in shame. "I did."

He stared at her, his whole being awash with instantaneous concern. "What happened?" Why wouldn't she look at him?

Her voice was so small and hushed that he almost didn't hear the terrible words she whispered. "I never should have kissed you."

The words echoed in Cole's head and heart. Anger flushed over him followed immediately by the most intense sorrow he'd ever felt. He put down the last bite of the cornbread muffin he'd been nibbling. "Oh." He stared at her back in disbelief as he felt the world spinning about him and then darkening and shrinking away from his grasp.

He knew she had enjoyed their stolen kiss underneath the mistletoe as much as he had, and yet he could smell the salt of the tears that were silently tracking down Piper's beautiful face. He struggled to compose himself as his heart, mind, and very soul roared their anger. She had liked it - he knew she had for he'd felt every inch of her delighted trembles when he'd held her in his arms with his lips locked with hers -, so why in all of Hell was she regretting it now? How could she feel remorse over the best moment of his entire life, a moment he'd thought had been just as wonderful for her as it had been for him?

His hands curled into tight fists. He focused on slowing his breathing as he fought to refrain from his baser impulses. Did the woman have no clue what she did to him? How could she not see how much he loved her?

Because he, like the idiot he so often acted as, was engaged to her sister! Because he had no right to love Piper; to have tempted, teased, and dared her into the kiss they had both yearned for and still burned for more of; or even to look at her the way he did! She was married - to a fricking Angel, for crying out loud!

"Piper . . . " His voice shook as he spoke her name. He struggled to keep his words calm and cool as he continued, but still his voice trembled and his words tumbled. "I-I won't say I'm sorry for our kiss. It was the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'll hold to that moment with you - the sweetest, most loving, purest, most beautiful, and amazing woman I've ever known - through whatever comes. But I am . . . I am sorry that you're upset. I'd do anything but take back that kiss to dry those tears from your eyes and make you smile again."

His hand hovered over her shoulder. He ached to hold her, to dry her tears himself, and to love her until she forgot all else and knew only happiness again, but none of that was he allowed to do. He was only a Demon, a stupid Demon who'd picked the wrong Halliwell to use to get close to their family only to fall deeply, maddeningly, and completely in love with her sister - and Piper was infinitely far above him. He had no right to taint her pure and golden goodness with his evil or to look at her, touch her, or even think of her the way he did.

"Tell me, Piper," he cried, looking at the back of the one woman who was everything good in the world to him with pleading eyes full of desperation and love. "Tell me what I can do to make you happy again."

Piper's tears flooded down her face. Leo had never made her cry this much or ache so powerfully, but then she'd never loved him like she loved Cole. And she'd been allowed to show the emotions she'd felt for Leo, emotions she'd foolishly mistaken for love, whereas she could not even tell Cole she loved him though the love she felt for him outburned what she'd thought she'd shared with Leo like a brilliant supernova against a single, flickering match caught in a hurricane gale. "You can't," she spoke quietly, misery etched in her every syllable.

"There must be something I can do. Anything."

She shook her head, her long hair shimmering down her back in glistening waves of ebony that his fingers ached to entwine within. A sob broke free from her control. She covered her mouth with trembling fingers and wrapped an arm around her shaking body. "I'm . . . sorry . . . b-but . . . you - you . . . c-can't . . . "

He could stand it no more. He reached around her, with reflexes honed from centuries of battling for a cause that he now viewed as evil, selfish and utterly worthless in the golden light of his love for Piper, and grasped her hand. She gasped as he turned her around.

"Piper," Cole said, partially feeling as though he should drop to his knees before the true Queen of his heart but yet not daring to do so should the maneuver cause his grip on her to lessen and free her to run away from him, "I love you! There's got to be something I can do to make this right to you! I know I've no right to feel this way for you! I know you're married and I'm as beneath you as if you were in Heaven and I in Hell, but I can't help the way I feel! I can't stop myself from loving you! I've tried, but no power on Earth or in Hell can keep me from loving you! Now please," he begged, tears shining in his dark eyes, his right hand holding desperately to hers, and the fingers of his left hand daringly brushing away her tears and secretly thrilling at the feel of her satiny, smooth skin, "tell me what I can do to make things better for you!"

"Oh, Cole!" Piper sobbed, her defenses and ladylike behavior having shattered completely at his passionate proclamation of love. "Don't you see?" she cried. "I love you too!" She fell into his arms and wept openly.

Cole's heart thundered in his ears. Piper had just said she loved him! He suddenly felt like the King of the world standing above all others; the mightiest Sorcerer who had made the world's most incredible woman fall in love with him; and the luckiest guy in all of existence!

But Piper's tears brought him crashing back down to Earth and reality. He tenderly stroked her trembling back and silky hair, but even as his body thrilled at every touch, his heart warred with joy and compassionate sadness and his soul ached for Piper.

Finally, when her body no longer shook so greatly and long after his black T-shirt had been soaked thoroughly by her tears, Cole gently lifted Piper's beautiful, tear-streaked face in his large, strong hands that had killed millions but yet were as soft and tender with her as though he was scared he might break her fragile beauty. "Then why are you so sad?" he asked, his love, compassion, and concern shining clearly in his handsome face and every word.

She shook her head as she gazed up at him through large, brown eyes made even bigger and more innocent by her words and the emotions that trembled with their intensity and sorrow as they shook her throughout every fiber of her being. "I love you," she told him, her voice full of regret but her face, especially her lovely eyes, filled with love, "but we can never be together! I'm sorry, Cole, but I can't risk losing my family! That's exactly what would happen if they found out how we feel about each other!"

He gently wiped her tears from her face and eyes. "Then we won't tell them." She opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her with a finger pressed gently against her full and supple lips. "Piper, I have loved you almost ever since I first set eyes upon you, and I've kept it secret all this time. We can keep this secret too."

His eyes shone with the truth of his words as he gazed adoringly down into her eyes. "I love you, Piper, and I respect you more than any one else I've ever known! I only want to make you happy, and I'm willing to do almost anything to achieve that. However far we act upon our love is entirely up to you. You have only to tell me what you want me to do."

"Just please," he begged, "don't tell me to leave! You're the only light in my world! I love you, Piper, and I don't think I could live without you! I know I wouldn't want to!"

Piper threw her arms around Cole and hugged him tightly. "I know I should do just that, Cole. I know it's the right thing to do and that it's wrong of me to love you when I've promised my heart to another man. But I do love you, and I can no more change that than I can stop the sun or the moon from rising!" She shook her head. "I don't want to either! I love you, Cole, and even if we can never be together openly, I never want to lose you!" She kissed him then and trusted, for the first time, that their love would guide them to where they were meant to be - together for all eternity and beyond.

Cupping her beautiful face, Cole lovingly stroked Piper's face as he kissed her back with all the love and passion that her glorious light had reawakened in the dark, cold, and lonely abyss that his soul had been before Piper had infiltrated his heart with her sweet and wonderful ways. He prayed she truly wouldn't send him away and that they'd find a way to be and stay together for an infinity pass eternity. He smiled against Piper's lips as he deepened their kiss, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close into his love.

He always had been a selfish Demon, and that was one of the few things that Piper would never change about him for he knew he'd always want her all for himself as long as even a shred of the true Cole Turner, who wouldn't even exist if not for Piper, remained. It was to Piper's love he had clung to, not Phoebe's, while he had fought so hard against the evil within himself and for Piper that he had worked to change and striven to break the bonds of Hell from his being and soul. Now more joy than he'd ever dared to hope he would feel in his entire existence surged through his soul for Piper loved him!

He picked his fabulous soul mate up and whirled her around as he continued to kiss her through the hours to come before the rest of their family interrupted their paradise by coming home. They parted then but drew together again the very next moment they were left alone and every such moment thereafter. Their love far outshone those moments when they couldn't be together, the moments they lived for and gathered close to their hearts, the moments that would fill their bright and loving future together forever.

**The End**

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this story, or any of my other writings, I hope you'll consider joining my friends and I at a brand new fan fic/art site called Ficcers Unite. At Ficcers Unite, we welcome all fandoms, pairings (slash and het), and even no pairings at all; hope to begin a Marvel/Disney RPG soon; and plan on issuing challenges every day of the week! We currently only have one day when a new challenge is not posted and hope to fill that position soon. Charmed challenges are posted on Thursdays and last the week (as do all the other challenges too). Come on over and check us out at today!


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